Tech Review 1) Big Tech & Antitrust, 2) World's Most Valuable Brands 2019

Tech Review (TR 2019-06-22)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) Big Tech & Antitrust, 2) World's Most Valuable Brands 2019, Huawei? 3) Investing: The Week & Investor Notes: Where the 'Ready' Users of Libra & Calibra Are, 4)ICYMI Tech News: Unicorns, 5G, Nvidia & ARM, Google, Walmart, Slack, and more.

1) Big Tech & Antitrust
Antitrust expert Doug Melamed on the new probes into Big Tech

Doug Melamed, Stanford law professor, joins CNBC's "Squawk Alley" to discuss how the Microsoft antitrust case he helped bring to court might affect the new probes into major tech companies. CNBC Television video above published Jun 13, 2019.

2) World's Most Valuable Brands 2019

World's Most Valuable Brands 2019 | statista.com

Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Visa, Facebook, Alibaba, Tencent, McDonald's, AT&T.
For more: Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2019 (published June 2019).

Editor's note: Huawei? 

#47. Where will Huawei be next year? Huawei says U.S. ban hurting more than expected, to wipe $30 billion off revenue and Bloomberg.com: Huawei Braces for Phone Sales Drop of Up to 60 Million Overseas.

"The most ambitious start-ups attempted to transcend their region of origin to become seen as global brands."--brandz.com

Chinese Cash In Silicon Valley Is Suddenly Toxic: as U.S. startups reject their money, Chinese venture-capital firms in U.S. are structuring deals to avoid regulators or shutting down. See also:  World’s Top Bicycle Maker Says the Era of ‘Made in China’ Is Over and Apple Explores Moving Some Production Out of China--Trade tensions prompt iPhone maker to consider diversifying supply chain. On Friday the U.S. Department of Commerce expanded its national security “entity list” to bar Chinese supercomputer firms from buying U.S. parts and components without U.S. government approval.

3) Investing

The Week--NASDAQ Composite +3.0% | S&P 500 Index +2.2% | DJIA +2.4%--for the week all three major U.S. stock indexes gained at least 2.2%, with the S&P 500 hitting its first record close since April. 

The Backstory: U.S. stocks ended slightly lower Friday, but locked in strong weekly gains after the Federal Reserve indicated on Wednesday it could carry out rate cuts later this year if economic conditions decline, with investors eyeing a slowdown in the global economy, and the G20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, 28-29 June 2019, where a widely anticipated meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump may take place.

Investor Notes--where the 'ready' users of Libra & Calibra already are:

source: statista.com

Background:

• How Libra Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Network Will Work (video)

• Fed Chair LIVE Jun 19, 2:30pm EDT, ECB Draghi Chaos, Facebook Calibra & Libra: "The first product Calibra will introduce is a digital wallet for Libra, a new global currency powered by blockchain technology."
• In an opinion piece in the Financial Times on Friday, Facebook Inc’s co-founder Chris Hughes said the Libra cryptocurrency would hand over much of the control of monetary policy from central banks to private companies: “If global regulators don’t act now, it could very soon be too late,” wrote Hughes, who also said the corporations that would oversee the new currency would put their private interests - profits and influence - ahead of public ones. Editor's note: what Hughes describes is exactly how ICANN has been corrupted.   
• The international Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has issued updated guidance concerning regulation of cryptocurrency and virtual assets at its meeting in Orlando, Florida.
• European central bankers claim oversight over Facebook’s cryptocurrency--reuters.com. Reuters also reported that France is creating a G7 task force to study how central banks ensure cryptocurrencies like Facebook’s Libra are governed by regulations ranging from money-laundering laws to consumer-protection rules.

4) ICYMI Tech News:

"Unicorns are amazingly deflationary vehicles. They're deflating rents, they're deflating driver salaries, they're deflating all kinds of things"--renown short-seller Jim Chanos explaining how Silicon Valley unicorns have pushed prices lower and why central banks are to blame.

According to latest estimates by Ericsson, 5G won’t really take off until 2021/2022. See also Crown Castle International: a play on the coming of 5G and the expansion of IoT--SeekingAlpha.com.

Nvidia says its accelerator chips will work with ARM processors by end of this year.

Google will eventually provide RCS Chat (replacement for SMS texting) directly to any Android user. Note also Google cancels plans for future tablets, focusing instead on Pixel phones and Pixelbooks (chromebooks).

Urban Mobility: Getting Beyond Gridlock--by 2030 robo-taxis, autonomous shuttles, and trains, will provide most urban mobility with private cars only a very small share, and buses almost non-existent.

Walmart: U.S. eCommerce Strategy and the Role of Jet.com. Walmart is the fourth largest online retailer in the US in 2019, according to eMarketer estimates, behind only Amazon, eBay, and Apple. See also: Apple says iPhones can now be fixed at all U.S. Best Buy stores, and Brick-and-Mortar Meltdown Gets Costly for Big Retailers--wolfstreet.com.

Slack closed at $38.62, June 20, 2019, up 48.5% from its $26 reference price, on its first day of trading as a direct listing, valuing the company at about $20B. Domain: slack.com. Investor relations: https://investor.slackhq.com/home/default.aspx.

UK: likely next Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, pledges to 'end the digital divide' by 2025, via a full rollout of fiber broadband.

Personal Tech: most U.S. mobile banking apps have security and privacy flaws, researchers say.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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How Libra Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Network Will Work (video)

Libra: how it's going to work

FT.com's global tech correspondent Tim Bradshaw explains the new cryptocurrency announced by Facebook: "Libra, a new global currency powered by blockchain technology."

Facebook investor on Libra cryptocurrency

Scott Kupor of Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z.com) joins CNBC's "Closing Bell" to discuss Facebook's new cryptocurrency, June 19, 2019.

"... we are joining the Libra Association as a Founding Member. The Libra Association is a membership organization behind Libra, a new global currency and financial infrastructure built on blockchain technology.  Libra brings together a world-class group of partners, including:

• Technology companies that know how to create global-scale networks and infrastructure, like Stripe and Facebook.

• Financial services companies, like PayPal and Visa, that have deep experience in global payments.

• Platforms, including Spotify, Lyft, and Uber, who know how to build user-friendly and popular applications with millions of users.

• Crypto-first companies, like Coinbase and Anchorage, that have deep subject matter expertise.

• NGOs, like Kiva, Mercy Corps and Women’s World Banking, that understand the needs and habits of a wide variety of populations across the globe.

"These organizations can help Libra reach a critical mass of users, businesses and developers, with the goal of mainstreaming crypto adoption ..."--a16z.com

Domain: libra.org (more info on Libra at the link), and Libra white paper.

See also Fed Chair LIVE Jun 19, ECB Draghi Chaos, Facebook $FB Calibra

Tweets by Libra_

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Fed Chair LIVE Jun 19, 2:30pm EDT, ECB Draghi Chaos, $FB Calibra

FOMC Press Conference June 19, 2019:

Federal Reserve Press Release 19 Jun 2019 (pdf): "Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. In support of these goals, the Committee [FOMC] decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 percent."

Below are press conference exhibits: 1. unemployment rate; 2. change in real GDP.

Effective Federal Funds Rate July 1, 1954 - May 1, 2019 -- May 2019: 2.39

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting Jun 18-19, with  Fed Chair Jerome Powell news conference set for Wednesday, June 19 at 2:30 p.m. EDT. S&P expects the Fed to signal at its June policy meeting that it intends to begin cutting rates. Federal funds futures trading had been pricing in two rate cuts before the end of the year, but only a 23% probability of a cut at this June meeting. Donald Trump and Larry Summers agree that rates are too high, inflation too low, yet the Fed is still facing the results of keeping interest rates too low for too long (Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen's QE and ZIRP) the effects of which continue throughout the economy. Background: see previous FOMC press conferences (video) and federalreserve.gov and @federalreserve.

On top of that the European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi "unleashed global chaos with his preview of more stilmulus, prompting an angry response from President Trump"--more here and here and here: How The "Draghi Shock" Unleashed Chaos On Powell's Most Important Day | zerohedge.com.

Mario Draghi just announced more stimulus could come, which immediately dropped the Euro against the Dollar, making it unfairly easier for them to compete against the USA. They have been getting away with this for years, along with China and others.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2019

Transcript of ECB President Mario Draghi, Jun 18, 2019 (pdf), video below: "... in the absence of improvement such that the (31:26) sustained return of inflation to our aim is threatened, additional stimulus will be required."

Above video published June 18, 2019 by the ECB: Introductory speech Mario Draghi, President, European Central Bank, ECB Forum on Central Banking 2019--20 Years of European Economic and Monetary Union--Sintra, Portugal, 17-19 June 2019. The European banking system lags far behind its global peers in terms of profitability and valuation (Almost Daily Grant’s, May 28). Bloomberg reports Deutsche Bank A.G. (whose shares have fallen 84% in the last nine years to less than 21% of its year-end 2018 book value) is set for another round of layoffs.

Meanwhile, Facebook just announced it will disrupt the global central banking system using a "New Digital Wallet [Calibra, domain: calibra.com] for a New Digital Currency [Libra, domain: libra.org,]" based on blockchain technology:

Today we’re sharing plans for Calibra, a newly formed Facebook [NASDAQ: FB] subsidiary whose goal is to provide financial services that will let people access and participate in the Libra network. The first product Calibra will introduce is a digital wallet for Libra, a new global currency powered by blockchain technology. The wallet will be available in Messenger, WhatsApp and as a standalone app — and we expect to launch in 2020 ....

For many people around the world, even basic financial services are still out of reach: almost half of the adults in the world don’t have an active bank account and those numbers are worse in developing countries and even worse for women. The cost of that exclusion is high — approximately 70% of small businesses in developing countries lack access to credit and $25 billion is lost by migrants every year through remittance fees. This is the challenge we’re hoping to address with Calibra, a new digital wallet that you’ll be able to use to save, send and spend Libra. From the beginning, Calibra will let you send Libra to almost anyone with a smartphone, as easily and instantly as you might send a text message and at low to no cost.

See also How Libra Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Network Will Work (video) and

• Facebook Token Runs Into Instant Political Opposition in Europe-- French finance chief says it can’t be a ‘sovereign currency’-- Germany’s Ferber sees Facebook becoming a shadow bank | bloomberg.com.

• What Facebook's Cryptocurrency Means: 6 Predictions

• Federal Reserve | YouTube.com

Tweets by calibra

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Greycroft's Alan Patricof on Big Tech & Antitrust Concerns (video)

The big tech companies are smothering small start-ups. Minor changes to a platform’s algorithms can harm a business’s traffic overnight.--Alan Patricof, Silicon Valley VC

Greycrofts' Patricof: There are legitimate antitrust concerns surrounding big tech

Washington is taking aim at big tech, and Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook could be vulnerable to antitrust actions. Alan Patricof, co-founder and managing partner at Greycroft Ventures (greycroft.com), joins the discussion on CNBC's "Squawk Box." CNBC Television video  above published Jun 6, 2019.

"Let’s face it, the Internet is a utility and so are the corporations who control it .... Technology needs to be regulated."--Alan Patricof.

Alan Patricof, April 10, 2019:

"From my vantage point in the venture capital industry, it is apparent that many start-ups are failing or changing their business models because of their dependence on Amazon, Facebook or Google. The situation has progressed to the point where venture capitalists discount companies that rely on a digital platform to reach their markets."

I'm concerned about the influence tech giants have over our business and societal landscape. Read the full version of my piece that was originally published in @FinancialTimes. https://t.co/HVGo3MvHgH

— alan patricof (@alanjpatricof) April 30, 2019

In case you missed it, check out my article in today's Financial Times. https://t.co/c61Q4jyLKz via @financialtimes

— alan patricof (@alanjpatricof) April 11, 2019

Like it or not our congress has got to reconsider our monopilies and anti trust laws to deal with the issues arising from the internet. Open and fair competition is critical to building our 21st century economy.

— alan patricof (@alanjpatricof) March 21, 2019

The "true" founder of the internet,Larry Roberts who originated his work at ARPAin the 1960's , died over xmas at age 81.His seminal work in packet switching and his decision to build a network across multiple computers is responsible for the myriad of applications we use today

— alan patricof (@alanjpatricof) January 1, 2019

Here's my piece in today's @USATODAY opinion section on why Amazon may be getting way too huge: https://t.co/c5ea4Pj3kk

— alan patricof (@alanjpatricof) April 4, 2018

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Tech Review | Entrepreneurs' Top Tips for Startups Raising Money (video)

Tech Review (TR 2019-06-15)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) Entrepreneurs' Top Tips for Startups Raising Money, 2) Google and Facebook vs. Journalism & Democracy, 3) Investing: The Week & Investor Notes: Why Trump Will Win The Trade Wars, 4) ICYMI Tech News: Huawei, AT&T, Verizon, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Salesforce, and more.

1) Entrepreneurs' Top Tips for Startups Raising Money

Top entrepreneurs offer advice on how to raise money and spend it wisely. Financial Times (ft.com) video above published Jun 7, 2019.

2) Google and Facebook vs. Journalism & Democracy 

Facebook and Google control 60% of the online ad market, and why that's bad for journalism and democracy, according to this CNN Business video published Jun 7, 2019.

3) Investing

The Week: NASDAQ Composite +0.7% | S&P 500 Index +0.5% | DJIA +0.4%  *The major indexes are still showing strong gains for June — the Dow is up 5.1% and the S&P 500 is up 4.9%. 

Investor Notes: Why Trump Will Win The Trade Wars

US: U.S. Stocks Still Look Better Than Anywhere Else | bloomberg.com--"while American outperformance continues to defy history, the rest of the world remains trapped in a bear market."

• Editor's note: Why Trump Will Win The Trade Wars: US exports make up only 12% of the US economy, of which nearly a third go to Canada and Mexico, with which Trump has already made  trade deals (USMCA). In addition, many of the most valuable US exports are 'must-have' items such as Qualcomm chips. In short, Trump is playing with a much stronger hand (and he knows it), than China or Germany, the world's two largest exporters, both of which are heavy net exporters to the U.S., and upon which their economies are more dependent. Trump doesn't need to bluff, 'everyone in the game' knows he is holding the better hand (unless they are delusional or in a state of denial). China may still be trying to adjust to the culture shock of Trump's 'negotiating style' but the 'cold hard truth' is China’s Likely to Lose a Tech Cold War--bloomberg.com.

Germany, the world's second largest exporter, and dominant member of the EU, is actually a more complicated situation than China, with Brexit still an "uncertainty"--see UK Parliament Rejects Move To Block No-Deal Brexit--but if I were advising Germany, I would be worried. Germany will likely have to adjust to a new level playing field with the U.S. in trade, something long overdue, and which Germany has never had to face in the post-World War II era (now going on for almost seventy-five years), during which the U.S. generated big trade deficits with Germany as one way to stabilize and strengthen Europe to counter the Soviet Union. See Germany Struggles to Figure Out How to Get Trump to Back Off--bloomberg.com.

"If President Trump has a poker style it is almost certainly loose aggressive. It is the most challenging style to play well and the most difficult to play against. It is very hard to read a loose aggressive player, to know what they might do next. Such players are constantly taking the initiative, dominating the game. They are predictable only in their unpredictability. Sometimes they go down in flames but usually it is the loose aggressive players that win the money. Loose aggressive stands against tight weak. President Carter would probably play tight weak as would [UK Prime Minister] Mrs. May, although it is hard to imagine either at a poker table."--Arthur Goodhart 

• U.S. Mobility: 38 percent of US respondents say they are mobile with the resources, ability, and inclination to make a move. In fact, 5 percent of respondents say there is a 100 percent chance of their moving. The mobile are most likely to live in cities, though the income and educational background of "the mobile" and "the rooted" are similar.

• Borrowing costs are now lower than at any time since the founding of the US Federal Reserve in 1913 (or in the UK, since the Bank of England was established in 1694).

                        

EU: Foreign investment into Europe falls for first time in 7 years--CNBC International video  interview of  Andy Baldwin, EMEIA managing partner at EY, discusses the management consultancy's 2019 European Attractiveness report: "appetite to invest in Europe" has dropped to a seven-year low.

• Financial Stability, Or Lack Thereof, Drives The Eurozone Agenda | SeekingAlpha.com.

• IMF to warn Italy's debt poses major risk to euro zone economy. See also: Italy Poised to Launch Euro Parallel Currency | moneymaven.io.

• European banks? "They are burdened with an overbanked market, aging systems, a lack of resources to digitise and re-invent their services, and there are still no signs of any European banks emerging as cross border champions. European banking union is another EU initiative that seems to have drowned in the sea of bureaucracy that sinks everything. Governments still see their duty as protecting national banking champions. There is repeated regulatory failure; Danske Bank in terms of money laundering and the collapse of Spanish and Italian banks doesn’t help. No European banks are expanding, building market share. Instead they are all, and have been, retrenching. If I could think  of something positive to say about Europe ... But I really can’t"--Bill Blain Jun 4, 2019.

                        

China: the International Monetary Fund expects Chinese growth to slow to 6.2% this year and to 6% in 2020, the weakest since 1990, but many analysts believe real growth has already dipped below those levels, confirming a grim outlook for the world economy. See also The Countries with the Most Monstrous Corporate Debt Pileups.

Hong Kong: after seven hours of marching, organizers estimated 1,030,000 people took part in the protest opposing the proposed China extradition law.

                        

Not All That Glitters: the Couple Who Scammed Warren Buffett out of over $300 Million.

4) ICYMI Tech News:

January 2019: the US Justice Department unseals Huawei indictments including 23 counts (here and here) pertaining to the alleged theft of intellectual property, obstruction of justice, and fraud related to its alleged evasion of US sanctions against Iran.

June 2019: 'Dead Man Walking' Huawei, applies to trademark its “Hongmeng” operating system (OS) in at least nine countries and Europe, deploying a back-up plan in key markets as U.S. sanctions threaten its business model. However, China's industry insiders are less optimistic that Chinese chip makers can quickly meet the challenge of supplying all the needs of Huawei and other domestic technology firms. Prospectuses of Chinese chip companies preparing to list on a new tech-focused stock exchange in China are even more blunt, characterizing China's domestic chip industry as “relatively backward,” lacking in talent, and requiring “a long time to catch up.” 
See also:

• Global tech companies shun Huawei after U.S. ban--reuters.com.

• Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer: 'Not sure Huawei survives Trump ban.'

• Huawei indefinitely postpones the announcement of a new Windows laptop, originally scheduled for June, 2019, due to ongoing US trade sanctions.

• Google Is Moving More Hardware Production Out of China--Trump’s tariffs push tech giant to boost Taiwan manufacturing, while companies, both foreign and domestic, increasingly seek to pivot production away from China due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to reset the  parameters for global trade and manufacturing. Foxconn says it can assemble Apple iPhones outside China.

• Huawei v. United States: why trademark professionals must follow this IP technology dispute.

AT&T: Dish Network Corp is open to merging its satellite television business with AT&T Inc.’s pay TV service, DirecTV, since both Dish and DirecTV are hemorrhaging subscribers as viewers continue to shift to cheaper online streaming services such as Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime video service. Unfortunately, AT&T's problems don't end there as AT&T appears to have no viable plan for its WarnerMedia streaming service a year after the Time Warner merger closed.

Verizon: 7 Reasons To Turn Bearish--upcoming Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 technology may disrupt the wireless mobile industry by making free or low-cost city-wide Wi-Fi a reality.

Amazon is Betting Big On Satellite Internet. See also: Amazon is offering flight booking on its platform in India, and it wants to build a one-stop app to offer customers a wide range of services which will attract users to Amazon Pay in the crowded digital wallet industry.

A $6 Billion Record Fine may be coming next year against Apple--see Spotify's complaint against Apple filed with the European Commission--timetoplayfair.com.

Why Sell Microsoft--new tax law ramifications .. cloud computing has no moat ... Windows 10 has continuing quality and performance issues [Editor's note: most people would be better off to forget about Win10 and just get a Chromebook] ... Microsoft behind in artificial intelligence (AI).

Salesforce: $CRM all-stock deal valued at $15.7B, for data visualization company Tableau (NYSE: DATA).

Instagram, a fashionista favorite, helped unknown labels find an audience but now "big bucks are changing the game" as cash rich luxury goods groups such as LVMH and Kering use increased social media budgets to drown out rivals on platforms once seen as a leveler for brands big and small.

IPO: Pet care company Chewy Inc. (NYSE: CHWY) (domain: chewy.com), closed up 59% at $34.99 after its debut IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, June 14.

A Bad Use of Technology: "Illegal robocalls are not just a drain on individual households' peace of mind, they are also a drain on our economy," FCC Chief Economist Babette Boliek and Chief Technology Officer Eric Burger wrote in a blog post, before the FCC voted unanimously to let carriers block robocalls by default.

Personal Tech: Google’s Login Chief Would Rather You Use Apple’s Sign-In Button Than Keep Using Passwords--‘I honestly do think this technology will be better for the internet.’

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report & Highlights

Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report (pdf) embed below:

Internet Trends archive: https://www.bondcap.com/#archive

Highlights:

Global Internet Users 3.8B (51% of world population), Growth Slowing: +6% vs. +7% Y/Y

Top 30 Global Internet Market Capitalization Leaders: USA 18 of 30, China 7 of 30

Top 30 Global Market Capitalization Leaders: USA 23 of 30, technology 9 of 30

USA E-Commerce Growth +12.4% vs. +12.1% (Y/Y – Q1 vs. Q4)

USA E-Commerce as % of All Retail Sales: 15% vs. 14% Y/Y

Media Time vs. Advertising Spending: Mobile @ Equilibrium (2018), Desktop (2015)

Internet Ad Revenue Growth Decelerating: +20% vs. +29% at Leading USA Platforms (Y/Y  Q1 vs. Q4). Internet Ad Buying: Programmatic Gains vs. Direct, Negatively Impacting Pricing.

Effective + Efficient Marketing = One’s Own Product + Happy Customers + Recommendations

USA Digital Media Usage Growth Accelerating: +7% vs. +5% Y/Y;  More time spent on Mobile devices than TV.

Usage: Images Increasingly Relevant Way to Communicate, e.g., Twitter: >50% of Tweet Impressions include Images / Video / Other Media.

Interactive Gaming Players Accelerating: 2.4B +6% vs. +5% Y/Y. Interactive Gaming =
Real-Time Play + Talk / Text + Watch… Social in Nearly All Ways.

Freemium Business Evolution Started in Gaming, Evolving / Emerging in Enterprise + Consumer…All In… Just Getting Started.

Cloud Deployment Revenue +58% Y/Y

Digital Payments >50% of Day-to-Day Transactions

Data Collection + Analysis + Utilization Evolving From Humans to Humans / Computers: Data is now fundamental to how people work & the most successful companies have intelligently integrated it into everyone's daily workflow… Data is the new application--Frank Bien, CEO & President, Looker, June, 2019. Consumers + Businesses + Regulators Increasingly Drinking from Data Firehose.

"Problematic" Internet Content: Media Maxim "People Prefer Negative News."

World Wide Web  v.  Webs of Worlds Driven by Local Regulation.

Cyber Attacks Sophistication + Scope Continue to Rise, Particularly State Sponsored 

Global Relative GDP (Current $): China + USA + India Rising, ... Europe Falling

Cross-Border Trade is 29% of Global GDP.

USA Consumer Confidence Index High & Rising @ 97 vs. 88 Sixty-Five Year Average 
Economy / Employment (USA): Unemployment @ 19 Year Low… Job Openings @ All-Time High and Wages Rising.

ONLINE EDUCATION = BIG NUMBERS + BIG GROWTH

Areas prime for innovation in USA: 1. Healthcare; 2. Government.

See also tweets at @bondcap.

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Tech Review | Tech Fade? Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon

Tech Review (TR 2019-06-08)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) Tech Fade? Apple,Google, Facebook, Amazon, 2) Antitrust & $AAPL, $GOOGL, $FB, $AMZN, 3) Investing: The Week & Investor Notes,  4)ICYMI Tech News: Huawei, Amazon, PlanetScale, #FoodDelivery, and more.

1) Tech Fade? Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon

Tech Fade: "We just don’t get as excited about tech as we used to"--enthusiasm about startups and embracing new things has been replaced by cynicism.

WWDC19 Keynote June 3, 2019, at 10 a.m. PDT Streamed LIVE:

source: statista.com

Did The Tech Bubble Just Pop: Investors Balk At SoftBank's Attempt To Raise $100 Billion: "Something is not quite right with SoftBank."

2) Antitrust & $AAPL, $GOOGL, $FB, $AMZN

CNBC Television video above published Jun 5, 2019: discussion on antitrust and U.S. tech companies with CNBC's Josh Lipton and Joe Kernen, and the Fast Money traders, Pete Najarian, Tim Seymour, Karen Finerman and Guy Adami, and Antitrust Lawyer Gary Reback, Carr & Ferrell, on the government's antitrust case against Google.

• Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple, worth nearly $3 trillion combined, reportedly under federal investigation.
• Google Should Be Afraid. Very Afraid--a new round of antitrust questions can’t go well for the company. The culture has turned against tech since Google skated free in 2013--bloomberg.com.
• Google has few political allies and a history of complaints, so an antitrust case may move quickly, say experts.
• FTC and DOJ agree on antitrust oversight of Google and Amazon, putting Amazon under FTC and Google under DOJ.
• The House Judiciary Committee is launching a bipartisan investigation into whether large tech companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon are using their vast market power to suppress competition.
• A possible Apple probe is reportedly linked to the Google probe, and stems from meetings between the DOJ and the FTC.

3) Investing

The Week: NASDAQ Composite +3.9%| S&P 500 Index +4.4% | DJIA +4.7%  

U.S. markets' best week of the year--Trump was right about the Fed.

Despite investor concerns about #tradewars causing a slowdown in the economy, the Fed’s latest #BeigeBook yesterday showed it has yet to dent growth materially. Fed Funds Futures still don’t care… odds here continue to forecast three rate cuts by the end of this year. $SPY $IVV

— DataTrek Research (@DataTrekMB) June 6, 2019

Investor Notes: in the U.S. Q1 turned out much better than what many pundits predicted:

76% of $SPX companies have beaten EPS estimates for Q1 to date, above the 5-year average of 72%. https://t.co/wb9IWRDULj #earnings pic.twitter.com/jn1EOyyMaT

— FactSet (@FactSet) June 1, 2019

and Despite Tariff Concerns, Analysts Making Smaller Cuts Than Average To EPS Estimates For Q2 | FactSet.com. Also: History Points To A Recovery in US Stocks--DatatrekResearch.com May 31, 2019--"data shows upside ahead despite a rocky May."

EU: The eurozone economy is stumbling and risks to financial stability are rising, says the European Central Bank (ECB). Italy Is Threatening to Repeat the Greek Debt Crisis—But With Higher Stakes | Fortune.com. Italy's GDP per capita remains stagnant at the same level as 18 years ago--Is The Sinking Italian Economy Just The Tip Of The Iceberg?--SeekingAlpha.com.

China: Chinese Bank With $105 BN In Assets On Verge Of Collapse. China’s stock market hit by the biggest outflow of foreign capital on record in April and May as trade war with the US and worry about the stability of the RMB weighed on investors, reported the Financial Times. China services PMI Plunges As Output Expectations Hit 7 Year Lows--zerohedge.com. Also: Pentagon report slams China for “eroding the values and principles of the rules-based order”--bloomberg.com.

4) ICYMI Tech News:

Huawei is selling off its undersea telecom cable business, its first major asset sale since the U.S. Government's accusations against the company. Facebook suspends app pre-installs on Huawei phones.

Amazon says 10 million items are now available for one-day shipping; while Walmart's recently launched 'next-day shipping' has only about 200,000 items available.

Amazon said it would open pop-up shops in the UK to give more than 100 small online businesses an opportunity to sell on the 'high street' for the first time. “Clicks and Mortar” stores will sell homeware, health and beauty, food and drink, and electronics.

Food-Delivery Rivals DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats and Postmates Risk Capital Destruction--a problem in the 'valuations.'

Boeing 737 Max: fatal flaws can be traced to a breakdown late in the plane’s development, when test pilots, engineers and regulators were left in the dark about a change that would ultimately play a role in two crashes--NYTimes.com.

IBM: 5% Yield And Nearing Dividend Aristocrat Status?

Google To Buy Data Analytics Startup Looker for $2.6B.

Personal tech: FCC votes unanimously (pdf) to let carriers block robocalls by default and advances proposed rule for carriers to adopt SHAKEN/STIR caller ID system.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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